The Hope In It
by Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Summary: AU. Slash; Erik/Charles. Oneshot. .:. Papa Erik and Daddy Charles decide to take on the newest generation of mutants within the area, all orphaned and in need of foster care, and later, adoption. .:. family fluff based off a fanart. for rulebenders.


**A/N: As requested by rulebenders on Tumblr to give a story to this fanart: **_hirodoicepop. deviantart. com/art/Lovely-Family-215459259_

**I decided to also add a child!Angel because I thought it would be cute if Raven had a sister-figure. C:**

**AU, obviously, and full of family fluff. Still with mutants, too. Enjoy!**

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><p>Out of all of the mutants Professor Charles Xavier could find with a machine he built (and he gave it the name "Cerebro," Spanish for 'brain'), nearly every last one of them were orphans, abandoned by their families for one reason or another. And all of them were at or under the age of six.<p>

"You can't really want to adopt all five of them, can you?" Erik Lehnsherr says with a raised brow, his arms folded over his turtleneck sweater-clad chest. "All the ones who live nearby in New York, I mean."

Charles nods his head. "On the contrary, love, I do plan on taking all of them in. Adoption is difficult and a long process, so I've asked instead to take them in as foster children for the time being, and the social workers find this perfectly suitable. So all five of them should be arriving at intervals this week."

"And they're all mutants like us?" Erik asks, settling down into the couch, Charles immediately nestling between Erik's side and a pillow in his lap.

"Yes, so they might be a handful, but I know they will all be lovely children," the telepath hums, closing his eyes and idly reaching up to play with one of Erik's hands while the other holds up the television remote, clicking through the channels idly until he lands on _Star Trek._

It's nearly the nineteen-seventies, and the two men are a secret couple in a large, empty mansion once owned by Charles' parents. They are twenty-seven and twenty-nine years old, and while they came from different backgrounds, they met somewhere in the middle of things and now they can't bear to let one another go. What once was friendship grew, and now they live together, hoping to start a school for mutated humans with super-abilities like themselves.

"What are their names? Surely you know them from using Cerebro," Erik comments idly as it cuts to commercial and he sets down the remote, using his free hand to play with Charles' hair in his lap, his other hand still being massaged and fiddled with by the telepath.

"Mm, that I do," Charles hums in agreement. He lists them off as he closes his eyes and pictures each face in his mind. "Sean, Alex, Hank, Raven, and Angel. They are ages four, five, six, three, and three, respectively."

"My God, Charles. Are we opening up a day care center or a school?" Erik counters with a chuckle, peering down at the younger man. "They will grow, I know, but you have to admit, they will be quite the handful for a few years until we can start teaching them, save for maybe the six-year-old, whom is about the age of a first grader."

"True enough," Charles agrees, opening his intensely blue eyes to smile and sparkle up at Erik's glasz orbs. "But we'll manage just fine. You can be the disciplinarian and I will be the mother hen, and we can both be teachers and role models. It will work, you'll see."

XxX

Each child that arrives throughout the week makes a new place in Charles' heart. He immediately adores each and every once of them; cute little Sean with his freckles and sandy-orange hair, Hank with his highly intelligent mind and speech with rectangular spectacles too big for his face, Alex with his bright blond hair and devoted chin and quick temper, Raven with her big yellow eyes and blue skin and flaming red hair, and Angel with her caramel-colored skin and dark brown hair and rich chocolate eyes.

They are all sweet, too, in their own way; Sean is very affectionate and grabby, Hank is advanced beyond his years and has little monkey feet like additional hands, and Raven is timid but caring. Angel roughhouses with the boys, tugging on Alex's hair and playing a tackle version of tag with him and Sean, and Raven likes to fall asleep to listening to Hank read aloud to her.

Angel and Raven hold hands when they walk around, stumbling a bit on their small legs, and Alex likes to tease Hank quite a bit. But they're good kids.

XxX

"Alex! What did you do?" Charles explains, rushing into the room when he hears something crash.

"I sneezed and these red lights blew up the couch!" Alex yelps, running up to Charles. The telepath scoops the boy up and looks into his mind for a second to see what had occurred. And, he finds, it's the start of Alex's laser-like abilities that are emitted from his body.

"Shh, it's all right. I'll buy a new couch. Why don't we go find Papa Erik and talk to him? I'm sure he's like to know what happened," Charles says with an assuring smile as he takes the little boy with him out of the room.

XxX

"Guess which one is which!" says one Angel, but then another Angel adds, "Yeah, 'cause I bet you'll never tell."

Erik looks between then, a grin playing on his lips, his teeth non-exposed. "Let me guess: Raven disguised herself."

"Yup!" both girls say in unison.

"So which one is the real Angel?" one girl chimes, and the other claps her hands happily.

"Yeah, guess, guess!"

They are four now, speaking clearer and looking taller. But one is definitively more excited than the other, and that gives her away.

Erik points to the one who had clapped her hands. "Raven."

She immediately shifts back, her voice rising to its own tones. "Aww, how did you know it was me, Papa Erik? I thought I had it this time!"

"You were acting like yourself, bubbly as ever. Angel is a calmer little girl. Learn to pretend to really be her besides your looks, my dear, and you'll be able to be anybody."

"Really?" Raven says hopefully, and beside her, Angel smiles.

"I think so," Erik agrees.

"Yeah, me too! Wanna go practice, Raven? We can make you act like Hank," Angel smirks deviously, and Raven giggles.

"Yeah, let's go!" And then they're off to pester the seven-year-old genius.

XxX

"Why does Alex pick on me so much?" Hank sniffles, his face pink, as he reads with Charles in his study.

Charles looks up from his own book, not even having realized anything was wrong (he was too centered on his reading to pick up any thoughts but his own) until Hank spoke. He sets down his book and moves over to the couch where Hank is lying down, his book on his chest and his glasses on the cushion, his eyes closed.

Charles picks up the seven-year-old and sits him on his knee. "Tell me what happened," the 'father-figure' asks, and the way Hank looks at him makes Charles feel like the second half of that phrase is a lie.

The brunet snakes his head and rubs his eyes. "It's just stuff. I don't know. The things Alex says to me, and sometimes he pushes me or laughs at me, and I don't know why he's so mean when I try to be his friend."

"Well, Hank," Charles says softly, sucking in air as he tries to find a reason. He quickly scans the house, locates Alex's thoughts and feelings, and is admittedly highly amused by what he finds. He grins slowly. "Don't worry about it," he says, glancing down again. "I just picked Alex's brain, and he's just jealous of you, and kind of likes you, but doesn't know how to be nice to people he likes, so he picks on you. It's fine, trust me," Charles laughs.

Hank makes a face. "Jealous of what, my feet? He hates my feet."

"No, not your feet, although he thinks they're pretty handy, if you don't mind the pun. No, instead, Alex is jealous of how smart you are. He wishes he were as smart as you, because he wants to be noticed by the rest of us more. Angel is outspoken, Raven changes form, Sean is in the background enough, but you're the most academically intelligent, and it throws him off," Charles explains calmly, rubbing part of Hank's back with his thumb as the boy's eyes become less watery and his face less pink.

"Oh. Okay," Hank replies quietly. "But… what sort of 'like?' He doesn't… _like-_like me, does he?"

Charles chuckles, setting Hank back down on the couch. "No, of course not, little one. He wouldn't know that ort of thing yet, and his mind isn't on childish romance at his age. No, he just likes you as a friend. Not why don't we get back to reading? I'm sure your book misses you."

XxX

"Daddy Charles, my back hurts," Angel whiles as she comes into Charles' bedroom. "It feels itchy and achy and in the mirror it's all red and bumpy!"

"Did you get a rash? Poison ivy or oak?" Charles panics, and he lifts her into his arms and brings her into the bathroom, sitting her on the counter of the sink to turn her around and lift up her shirt. But what he sees are little purple-black, shiny things poking out of bumps on her skin. He blinks, looks closer through the bit of clear ooze and finds balled-up… wings. They're _wings. _New and growing and strengthening, like a newly hatched dragonfly's.

He smiles, explains to her that her mutation isn't only acid phlegm, and Angel bounces up and down, exclaiming excitedly, "So I can fly? When they get bigger, I'll _fly?"_

He nods, soothes her wounds with anti-biotic ointment, and then kisses her forehead and sends her on her way, hearing her yell to anyone in the immediate vicinity about the good news.

XxX

Erik is startled from sleep by wailing louder than anything he's ever heard. It's high-pitched, like a dog whistle for humans, and soon he's flying out of bed.

The mirrors are broken, and the windows, too, in Sean's bedroom. His little body is trembling on his bed, tears streaking down his face. He comes over to Sean and brings him into his lap.

"What's wrong?" Erik asks gently, and Sean turns his little, round face into Erik's chest and shudders with a sob.

"I had a bad dream," Sean weeps, "And I screamed and it made everything break and it scared me!"

As it turns out, his vocal chords can emit sonic waves, and as Erik figures this out and informs Charles, they learn to make most things plastic in Sean's room, the windows shatter-proof glass, and make sure that one of them comforts and personally tucks Sean in before bed so that his chances of having nightmares are lessened.

Erik is the one to insist on tucking Sean in more often than not. And he almost always touches the boy's hair or smiles at him before he leaves, and Sean always murmurs half-awake, "Love you, Papa Erik," or simply, "Thanks."

XxX

They seven of them bunker down in a canopy-bed-turned-massive-tent with flashlights during a thunderstorm. Sean holds Charles' side and Raven sits between the two daddies, Hank reading to himself and Alex and Angel being separated by Erik from wrestling in front of him.

They all share hot cocoa and Goldfish and tell made-up ghost stories and listen to the thunder crashing outside, flashes of lightning barely penetrating the blankets and curtains above and around them.

"Daddy Charles?" Angel says, climbing over Raven and Hank (earning a "hey!" from the boy) to sit directly in Charles' lap, "Can you tell us a real story? I wanna know how you and Papa Erik met."

Charles glances up, looking past her at Erik. Erik nods, showing that it's fine if Charles says how, because it's not something none of the kids can't handle.

Charles looks down and clears his throat. Raven sits up, interested, and Alex squirms, accidentally kicking Hank (Sean moving in to comfort the genius), but soon, they're all settled down in their foster daddies' laps, and looking expectantly up at them.

The metalbender sends an encouraging glance and a squeeze to Charles' shoulder. The telepath sighs, brings a smile for the children to his lips, and says in a soft voice, "Well, it was a late night. I was on a yacht – it's like a bit boat that cruises around – and I was out with some friends of mine from college to celebrate my recent graduation as a professor."

"Was Papa Erik on the boat with you?" Sean pipes up softly.

"Ah, no, not quite," the younger man says with an odd chuckle that's more nervous than anything. "Later he was, but at first… well, he was in the water. I heard him in my head, calling out for help. He was drowning. But before he asked for help, he was drowning on purpose."

"On purpose? Why would he do that?" Hank asks, frowning. "That sounds a lot like suicide."

"It was," Erik adds, his voice low and measured. "I had given up hope on everything, my own life included. So I was aiming to be rid of it, since it felt so very empty and useless. But at the last minute, I didn't wish to die. I realized that I could be stronger than suicide, and that I could live, but at that moment, I was a bit too late, and getting caught up in something in the water; most likely seaweed or a lost net. It didn't matter, though, because –"

"I dove overboard, in my clothes and all, half drunk, and saved him," Charles whispers. "When you save someone's life… it immediately makes you no longer strangers, because someone cares enough about you to protect you. And after we were hauled on board and I had dipped into his mind for a moment, we made proper introductions and have been friends ever since."

"Friends? But I thought you loved Papa Erik," Angel interrupts, poking Charles in the chest. "You _looove _him and you can't lie to me 'bout it!"

Charles laughs warmly, bringing her into a hug before setting her between his legs again. "All right, so I might have skipped over that tidbit. We were friends first before came to love one another." He glances up fondly at Erik, and Erik leans over to give Charles a peck on the cheek, something they haven't done in front of the children before, but none of the little ones seem bothered by in the least.

"Yuck. I never wanna kiss anyone," Alex grunts, crossing his arms.

"Why not?" Sean asks, leaning over to look at the blond. "I think it sounds nice."

"Nope. It looks gross. And girls have cooties, so why kiss one?" Alex retorts.

Hank rolls his eyes. "'Cooties' are just germs, and everyone has them, and not all germs can make you sick, so really, it won't matter if you kiss someone," he says with a push of his glasses up his nose.

Alex raises an eyebrow, and then laughs in his boyish voice. "If you say so. I'm just never kissing _you, _Monkey-Boy."

Hank pouts. He looks up at Erik. "Papa, he called me a monkey again!" And he looks as though he might cry.

Erik frowns and shoots a look at the laser-using mutant. "_Alexander,_" he says in a threatening tone, and that's all it takes for Alex to bows his head in a submissive pose and jumble his hands together in shame.

"Sorry, Hank," Alex murmurs, and that's enough. Hank nods in satisfaction, and they continue the rest of the night with fiction tales about monsters and ghosts while Raven and Angel offer to make everyone s'mores in the fireplace.

XxX

"I adore our little family," Charles says one night as he drops down into his bed, Erik already under the covers and flipping idly through the TV Guide, looking ahead in the week on the newspaper prints to see if any good movies will be playing.

"As do I," Erik agrees, smiling over at Charles as the telepath undresses and slips into his nightclothes. Once he's in bed, Erik flicks off the lap with a hand in the air, magnetism turning the switch, and he sets aside the Guide to lie down in the dimness.

Charles automatically rolls onto his side and kisses Erik's neck, one of his arms wrapping across Erik's torso to grip his waist. He places his head on Erik's pillow and closes his eyes. "Yes, but did you think it would work this smoothly? Rough bumps aside, they love us and I cherish them, and they will all grow up to be wonderful kids, exceptional mutants, and I honestly think this is the way to go to introduce mutant kind to our human counterparts: with a school to teach them to control their gifts in a safe manner, and prove that they are just like anyone else at heart."

Erik nods mutely, turning onto his side to bring Charles' head near his chest and wrap his arms around his better half, one arm under the pillow beneath them, and the other hand rubbing small circles along Charles' spine. "You're right. I believe that, too. I used to think we were all doomed to be part of genocide or have less rights than the African Americans did for so long, and I used to want to wipe out the humans to leave solely us, but you changed my mind on all that, Charles. Seeing this, _having_ this… it's opened my eyes to a new hope."

"I'm glad," Charles whispers, pecking a kiss on Erik's chin before the taller man swoops down and captures the telepath's lips with his own.

And they stay like that for most of the night, facing one another in close proximity, basking in the warmth of their own bodies paired with the warmth in their hearts over the young, sleeping mutants down the hall.


End file.
